American Aids expert dies in crocodile attack

A professor at the University of Washington medical school who moved to Botswana to help alleviate a shortage of doctors was killed on Sunday when a crocodile dragged him from a dugout canoe, his family and colleagues said.

Richard Root, 68, an expert in infectious disease, was on a wildlife tour of the Limpopo river in remote north-eastern Botswana with his wife, Rita O'Boyle, at the time. The couple had been visiting a clinic in the area.

Professor Root went to Botswana to train health workers to deal with HIV/Aids. The country's rate of infection is about 40%.